‘They push fear on you. They push fear on your kids.’: A Logan Square school is helping a family after the dad was detained by ICE.
It took less than 45 minutes for a Logan Square family’s world to come apart, as an unmarked car pulled them over on the way to the grocery store and arrested the dad Tuesday night.
Federal officials confirmed the officer was with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the family, who wished to remain anonymous out of concern for their safety, said the man was living in the country without legal permission and originally from Mexico.
But as his wife began to pick up the pieces, she knew where to turn for help: Salmon P. Chase Elementary School, which their three kids attended. With the aid of fellow parents, teachers and local aldermen, she said she feels supported as she begins the long fight to get her husband back home.
“We’re a Chase family,” she told the Chicago Tribune on Thursday. “And they have actually demonstrated and showed us the love that this school has for every single student. They treat you as a family.”
About 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, she and her husband were driving to the grocery store with their 13-year-old daughter and 6-year-old grandson, when a gray vehicle pulled them over near Chase Elementary.
“I was headed to the grocery store, and I never made it to the store,” said the wife.
Instead, the officer approached them and told her husband to get out of the car, claiming there was a warrant for his arrest.
The officer would not identify himself or show them a physical copy of the warrant, despite repeated requests by the family and gathering passersby, the woman said.
“I actually had to call the Chicago Police Department,” she added. “Because, I’m like, I’m not sure if this is legal or not.”
CPD advised the family to cooperate with the agent, the woman said. Her husband comforted the children as their daughter began experiencing an anxiety attack, and then he left in the unmarked vehicle, she said.
“He told the officer, ‘Do you turn around and see what you’re putting my kids through, what you’re doing to my grandson? Do you see them tearing (up)? Do you have any type of compassion?’” his wife recounted. “And he answered, ‘I am a federal agent, and this is my job.’”
ICE confirmed that its officers arrested the man Tuesday, and he remains in custody pending immigration proceedings. An ICE spokesperson said the man tried to enter the United States twice in 2000 without legal permission and was granted a voluntary return, but entered at a later date.
The spokesperson also noted the man had a drug conviction in 2003. Cook County court records show he was convicted of a misdemeanor possession of marijuana and was sentenced to six months of court supervision.
To his wife, the 17-year-old conviction does not render her husband a danger to society, she said.
“My husband was a teenager (at the time),” she said. “Like any young person, you smoke marijuana, there’s a time when you try it or whatever. He got caught, he paid his consequences with court and court fees ... he cleaned the streets. I don’t think that’s a threat for our society. People deserve another chance, but if they want to use that against him, we’ll just be patient and see what our lawyer can (do to) help with his case.”
After the arrest, the wife reached out to Christine Dussault, a teacher at Chase Elementary who had previously taught three of the family’s children and, in April, helped launch the school’s Solidarity Fund after a group of staff members noticed that the COVID-19 pandemic was disproportionately affecting the school community. The Logan Square school primarily serves Latino families, many of whom have parents who are living in the country without legal permission, essential workers, or recently unemployed due to the pandemic.
Over time, the school community raised about $7,000 to assist families with paying for food, rent and utility payments, but saw the pool of money shrink steadily over the summer as fundraising sources were quickly exhausted.
“We were down to $400 when I heard about what happened,” Dussault said. While the funds had run low, Dussault realized on a call with Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd, that the dwindling Solidarity Fund might still be of use.
“Rossana immediately asked if we could use the Solidarity Fund to raise money for (the family), and I was like, ‘Absolutely. It’s set up, we’re ready to go,’” Dussault said.
Together with Rodriguez Sanchez and Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st, the school community spread the word.
Donations poured in. In a single day, they raised $8,000 to help the family with legal costs as they attempt to locate their father and fight to keep him in the United States.
“I’m the manager of this account and my Venmo kept crashing,” Dussault said. “I couldn’t even access the account at some point yesterday, because so many people were donating.”
Dussault credits it in part to increasing public awareness about the impact of ICE on local communities.
“I think that just speaks to the political moment we’re in,” the teacher said. “Most people I have conversations with have no tolerance for ICE in our communities, which is pretty amazing.”
Rodriguez Sanchez agreed.
“I think that any presence of federal agents in our communities decreases the amount of trust,” the alderman said. “So, although there might not be a direct connection between these particular incidents and and the federal response in the city, we still don’t trust it. We just don’t trust it.”
The wife, a 38-year-old woman who is also helping raise her 6-year-old and 10-month-old grandchildren, said she was shocked and grateful the Chase community raised so much money in so little time.
She and her husband have lived in Logan Square for 15 years and have been married for the past four. She and her children are U.S. citizens, she said, and although her husband knew he was living in the country illegally, he was trying to become a citizen through legal channels before he was detained.
They had once contacted someone about the process to attain citizenship, but were told that it would cost about $7,000 just to get started, she said.
“That’s a high quantity for us, and we work as housekeeping,” she said. “And with the (pandemic) situation going on where there’s not a lot of work, and with us being self-employed, it’s just very hard.”
Together, the couple supports their family through a small, self-run cleaning service, but the pandemic forced them to shut down for 11 weeks, leaving the family in a financially precarious place.
“We work as a team,” she said of her husband. “And to now do (the) work by myself, it’s gonna be longer, and harder being away from home.”
Still, she said she intends to use the Chase Solidarity Fund donations solely for legal costs, while still working to make ends meet.
“I want to make it clear that I will continue working to provide for my family,” she said. “Hopefully he gets back home to us soon so we can continue with our small business.”
Her family has not been able to contact her husband since the arrest, she said. During the arrest, an officer gave her directions to contact the ICE processing center in west suburban Broadview. Authorities there told her that her husband would be taken to the detention center at McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility, she said.
She said that one of their clients is a lawyer who understands the family’s situation and has offered to help, although they said the process would likely take a few weeks.
“Now we’re gonna wait and see if he can get (my husband) out with (an) I-bond and help us, as we are married, and I am a citizen, and we have children,” she said.
She also said she wants to share her story to increase public awareness about the way people living in the country without legal permission are treated in the U.S. — even in a city like Chicago.
“I know a lot of people come here illegally for a better life, to provide for their families, but there has to be another way that we as a society can help them,” she said. “Because it’s horrible the way they get treated.
“They push fear on you. They push fear on your kids. The way they talk to you, the way they look at you. The way they come at you, they just treat you like worse than an animal.”
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